Case 42: How to Deal With Your Teenage Robot Dragon
Cruger was fine-tuning the designs for the Aqua-Base for an upcoming project, when he felt a rip in reality. “Let’s see what noob landed in my dimension this time,” he said to himself as he opened a portal. On the other side was a small crater, and a rather familiar looking dragon.
Arcee crawled out of the crater, looking like she was muttering something to herself as she shook a tallon at the sky. It didn't help her situation that where the crater was now a house had been standing moments before. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone there, and it was condemned anyway.
“So, you didn’t even make a Token yet, how’d you get to my verse this time?” asked Cruger.
“Huh? Oh hi Cruger!” Arcee said a she noticed him. “Um… Personally I have no clue how I got here but I think your token thing hates me…” She then added sheepishly, responding to Cruger’s question.
“Might need to update it again,” Cruger mumbled to himself as Rainbow came down to land beside him.
“Anything we need to worry about?” she asked.
“Not really, just Token trouble again.”
“... Um, did you by any chance ever have a cybernetic wing or walk on four legs before by any chance?” Arcee asked the prismatic haired pegasus as she pointed at her, tilting her head to the side out of confusion.
“Uh… no?”
“I see you’ve met your verse’s Dash,” Cruger said, “how’d it go?”
“Wait... that was the Rainbow Dash pony you mentioned?” Arcee asked as she began to sweat. “Scrap…”
“What happened?”
“Um, I may have… Hehehe… Possibly snapped at her?” Arcee said sheepishly, an apologetic grin plastered across her face.
“And…”
“May or may not have… Traumatized her? I don't know, she was unconscious when Skywarp told me to spit her out…” Arcee confessed before holding up her talons defensively, “B-but I acted in self defence! She attacked Skywarp because I was cuddling some pretty white pony with wings and a horn that had been yelling at us for some reason!”
Dash’s eye twitched, as Cruger facepalmed, “That was probably Celestia.”
“Celestia? It said that was its name but I don't understand the significance. Also, would you like me to demonstrate how I was cuddling it to prove I was doing nothing wrong?” Arcee said innocently.
“No,” Cruger said as he grabbed her where her ear would be if she had one before turning to Dash, “let Pinkie know that I’ll be back with her and Grumpy Gears soon.”
“I don’t think she deserves her party, but I get that you don’t have much of a choice,” Dash said.
“Owowowow… What's going on? Did I do something wrong!?” Arcee asked, not understanding what was happening.
“What’s going on is that you’re going to go apologize to your Rainbow Dash,” Cruger said as he opened a portal back to her Equestria.
“Why!?” Arcee whined, believing that she did nothing wrong.
“As if you have to ask,” Cruger said as he stepped through the portal into Arcee and Skywarp’s cave, before getting his bearings, “you met your Dash in Canterlot correct?”
“I don’t know what canterlot is, but if you're talking about that castle on the side of a mountain she attacked us when we were flying in that direction to have a look around…” Arcee whimpered as she was dragged through the portal, though Skywarp was nowhere to be found when they arrived.
“That’d be Canterlot then,” Cruger said as he looked through the walls of the cave, “there you are, know that massive presence anywhere.” With that, he opened another portal straight to Canterlot palace.
“Halt! Who goes there!?” Shouted a white unicorn in purple plate armor as Cruger pulled Arcee through the portal only for them to be surrounded by a well armed contingent of guards.
“Ah, Captain Armor, Commander Cruger, SPD,” Cruger saluted with his free hand.
“How do you know my name Diamond Dog!? And what is this SPD that you claim to be a commander of?” The unicorn demanded, glaring at Cruger through his helmet.
“One, I’m not a Diamond Dog, I’m a Sirian, and calling me a Diamond Dog is something I take offense to. Two, I know you because we’re coworkers in another dimension, feel free to be present when I brief the Princess. Three, SPD is a special division of the Royal Guard of that dimension tasked with guarding against threats to the entire planet. As to why I’m here,” Cruger brought Arcee forward, “I’m here so that this little troublemaker can apologize for traumatizing Rainbow Dash, forgive me for not using her rank but I am unaware as to what it is.”
The guards all looked at one another in confusion as Shining Armor just gaped at Cruger, his left eye twitching. “I don’t even…”
“What is the commotion out here?” A regal voice shouted before Celestia stepped out of the front entrance of the castle to investigate personally.
“Ah princess, pleasure to meet you, before we continue however,” Cruger pulled out an ornate looking medal that resembled a golden sun wreathed by wings, “perhaps this could serve as my credentials?”
“How did you get that? And what's that thing doing here!?” She demanded before going into shock when she noticed Arcee.
“You gave it to me, well, the you from another dimension did anyway,” Cruger said as he put it away, “and she is here to say sorry, aren’t you?”
“But all I did was cuddle her!” Arcee whined, causing all the guards to gawk as the princess blushed at that certain memory.
“I was referring to you using Rainbow Dash as a chew toy. Speaking of which, would one of you mind fetching her? We have another appointment that I dare not miss.”
“General Armor? Please fetch Captain Dash, it looks like it’s going to be a Long day…” Celestia groaned, facehoofing. Shining armor swiftly saluted before teleporting away. “Now, Since I can tell you're most certainly not of this world please explain to me what the buck is going on?” She then asked Cruger, since he seemed to be more friendly than she remembered Skywarp to be.
“Short version, Arcee here was trying to contact me and in the process I discovered her, shall we say treatment, of you and Dash. As such, me being the lawman that I am, decided to bring her here so she could apologize. If you would like the long version, could we perhaps go inside? Nothing personal, but standing out in the broiling heat isn’t the best idea.”
Celestia sighed as she motioned for Cruger to follow her as she re entered the palace before heading to the throne room where she went up and got comfortable before speaking. “First of all, I would like to apologize for the heat, it has been getting harder and harder to control the day and night cycle as of recent years and my lack of sleep. Now would you like to fill in any details about the situation?”
“Of course,” Cruger said as he released Arcee, “well to start, there’s something you should know about my dimension. Aside from a few cosmetic differences, let’s just say the main difference is that, the Elements have their bearers.”
“I knew I should have listened to Starswirl…” Celestia muttered to herself, not paying attention to Arcee who was creeping behind her throne for some reason since she believed Cruger had the dragoness under control.
“Well, now, lets see what I need to cover… how much did Arcee’s companion explain?”
“That the two of them are sentient alien machines…” Celestia managed to tell him before Arcee pounced “Noo!” She shouted in surprise, attempting to escape as Arcee started petting her and cuddling her again.
Cruger sighed as he opened a portal and pulled Arcee through it, “Excuse me, but we’re trying to have a conversation. Now, are you going to behave, or do I have to start practicing my sealing spells?”
“But… She’s so cuddly!” Arcee whined, giving Cruger the puppy dog eyes.
“You’re not Agnes, now behave or get a timeout.”
Arcee merely continued to pout as she crawled into a corner and curled up, glaring at Cruger the entire time as she continued to pout.
“Apologies,” said Cruger, “now where were we?”
“Ahem…” Celestia said as she cleared her throat, attempting to salvage what was left of her dignity. “The one calling himself Skywarp said that they were alien machines with sentience that also had similar capabilities to Changelings, though those were not his exact words that's about all I managed to get out of him before he vanished…” She said, eying Arcee nervously.
“Don’t worry, I know the species, and they’re generally limited to two forms,” Cruger said, “anyway, what he didn’t mention is that, via a rather mysterious being that I am currently investigating, he was ripped from his home and brought here, as were countless others across the multiverse, including myself.”
“What!? How is something like that possible? And who would be mad enough to send creatures like those two here? It's bad enough with Sombra’s legion of slaves and cyberponies!” Celestia groaned, dreading the thought of more beings like Skywarp and Arcee showing up.
“As I said, I’m investigating him. I’m probably the multiverse’s foremost expert on Displaced, what we call ourselves, and even I know next to nothing about him. By the way, in case you were wondering, the Merchant only sends one set of Displaced to each reality.”
“Who’s the/this merchant?” Celestia and Arcee asked in awkward unison, causing them to stare at one another.
“The guy who sends at least 80% of all Displaced to their Equestria, so named because he appears in the guise of one, and his victims are sent after purchasing something from him.”
“But there wasn’t anyone dressed like that around when we wound up here…” Arcee stated, looking at Cruger with a confused expression as Celestia became curious.
“Then that just means you’ve been Displaced by someone else, I did say 80% did I not?”
“Great, that means that I have more chaos to look forward to…” Celestia groaned.
“Could be worse, he could be up and about.”
“Who’s this he?” Celestia and Arcee asked in unison again.
“Okay, that’s just freaky,” Cruger said, “and while I can understand Arcee not knowing, you don’t remember our friendly neighborhood draconequus?”
“There hasn’t been a draconequus in Equestria since long before my reign so whomever you're speaking of I do not know.” Celestia said, shaking her head.
“Consider yourself lucky,” said Cruger, “now, two more things I should mention about Displaced. While we all have our home dimension, we have our ways of visiting one another, as you can see. Second, while I’m good, as Arcee and Skywarp are also good, not all Displaced are.”
“We prefer neutral.” Acree interjected.
“My point is, just because someone is a Displaced, doesn’t mean that they’re on the side of Alicorns, especially this guy,” Cruger pulled out a wanted poster of Basco, “this guy handed his Equestria over to an alien invasion, and is currently going on a multiversal sightseeing trip, and murdering every Displaced he comes across. Do us all a favor, you see him, contact me immediately, then run.”
“Will do, especially since that being you just described sounds similar to a spy that we failed to capture years ago before he managed off with many important documents as well as General Armors infant sister as a hostage.” Celestia said remorsefully as she took the wanted poster in her magical grip and handed it to one of the guards before he ran off to put it away for his princess.
“Damn it, how’d it end up for her?”
“We do not know, but the last trace of him we ever found lead over the border to the Crystal empire.” Shining armor said, sounding very upset as he entered the throne room with a certain Rainbow maned pegasus.
“My condolences General, and apologies for referring to you as Captain before, it was your rank back where I’m from and was unaware that it wouldn’t be here.”
“It’s alright, it’s nothing more than a title, I wouldn't expect a foreigner to be able to guess it.” Shining armor said forgivingly before bowing to his princess along with Rainbow Dash.
“Speaking of apologies…” Cruger turned an eye to Arcee.
“But!” Arcee whimpered, causing Rainbow to take notice of her and start to go pale.
“No buts, you traumatized her, now say you’re sorry.”
“Fine… I’m sorry pony that tasted like skittles…” Arcee said to Rainbow Dash, who simply stared at Arcee in confusion now, though still not moving an inch out of nervousness.
“Okay…” Shining Armor said, “First of all, what are skittles? And what the hey did that dragon do to our best flier?”
“Skittles are a rather delicious fruit flavored candy that comes in a rainbow of colors, although personally I prefer Reese's Pieces,” said Cruger. “As for what she did to Dash, ever seen a dog chase a ball? For all intents and purposes, that.”
Shining Armor at first just gaped at cruger before turning to face Rainbow and Arcee… Before reluctantly snorting as he tried to hold in his laughter as he imagined Arcee as a giant dog and his subordinate as a candy flavored ball. “I hate to say it, but while I feel bad for you Dash, the way Mr Cruger has described what you went through is quite silly.” He said, causing Rainbow to blush.
“I-it’s not that funny! She somehow caught up to me despite using my sonic rainboom! It was terrifying!” Rainbow defended, though was more embarrassed than terrified now. She wasn’t the only one as Celestia couldn't stop imagining a large dog whenever she looked at Arcee now.
“Um, what's going on? And why is everyone looking at me funny?” Arcee asked, unable to understand the situation.
“Let’s just say I was successful in ending Dash’s trauma,” Cruger said as he tried to hold back a laugh himself.
“... Ok?” Arcee said, deciding it was best to give up on trying to figure out the situation. “Can I come out of the corner now though? I’m starting to get a cramp…”
“I never sent you in there,” Cruger said, “come on out. By the way, I completely forgot to ask, why were you contacting me again?”
“Oh, me and Skywarp were ready to make our token! But it seems I’m stuck handling it by myself…” Arcee said before pouting again.
“Token?” Shining armor asked.
“Don't ask, even I can hardly understand it.” Celestia said, shaking her head.
“Remember when I said we Displaced had ways of visiting each other? That’s how,” Cruger said as he turned to Arcee, “so, do you just need my instruction, or would you like the services of my pewter smelter?”
“Um… I don't know what a smelter is, but we don't have a way to make our token on our own.” Arcee admitted.
“Back home it is, by your leave princess?”
“You may go, I think we have had enough for one day.” Celestia sighed, preparing herself for the large amounts of paperwork she was expecting to come in the near future due to these Displaced.
“Very well, oh before I go,” Cruger pulled out a notepad and pencil and jotted down a spell formula, which he handed to her, “a sealing spell of my own design, easy to cast, but incredibly effective, might come in handy.”
“Why thank you.” Celestia said, accepting the second piece of paper with her magic but tucking it under her wing instead of handing it to a guard this time.
“So…” Arcee said, crawling out of the corner and around the room until she was standing next to Cruger. “Shall we go?” She then added, not comfortable with going back through the main entryway or getting dragged again.
“We shall,” Cruger said as he opened a portal, “ladies first.”
Arcee rolled her eyes as she started to go through the portal… before a pair of pink arms stretched through it and grabbed her and Cruger before yanking them through. Causing the Princess, Shining Armor, Rainbow, and the guards in the room to all simply stare at the portal before it closed like a zipper. “What was that!?” A random guard then said in surprise, speaking everypony’s mind.
“What the!?” Arcee sputtered, suddenly finding herself somehow sitting in front of a large picnic table with Cruger next to her and a pink pony standing on the table in front of them.
“Hi, it’s about time we met, I’m Pinkie Pie, Ponyville’s Premier Party Planner! I had a whole Welcome to our Ponyville Party for you and the other guy but you left before it started. Luckily I hadn’t sent out the invitations yet so I could cancel without making anypony feel bad and there was a birthday party I could use the cake for so it didn’t go to waste but I made Cruger Pinkie Promise to bring you here the next time he saw you and you do not break a Pinkie Promise.”
“Believe me, you can’t, it’s been tried,” Cruger said as he dusted himself off.
“... Okay? So whats going on then? I’m confuzed…” Arcee said, only catching the part about promises from Pinkie's rant.
“That’s pretty standard when you meet Pinkie Pie for the first time,” Cruger chuckled, “short version, when someone new comes to Ponyville, Pinkie throws them a party. Since you and Grumpy Gears left before you had yours, she made me promise to bring you for yours the next time I saw you. And trust me, breaking a Pinkie Promise ranks in the top ten of things it would be a very bad thing to do, right under ignoring her Pinkie Sense if I’m right.”
“Huh, that's interesting… So, what do we do then? Go to this party then make me and Skywarp’s token, or the other way around?” Arcee asked, though she did hope she would have time to poke around a little later.
“Party first, or did you want the cake to go stale?”
“Um… Cake can go stale?” Arcee asked, having honestly never had cake before.
“Duh, yeah it can!” Pinkie said, “if you leave it out to long it get’s all dry and bleagh, you need to eat it while it’s nice and moist.”
“Oh, ok then. Though I don't know if I can eat cake… not as I am now that is.” Arcee said before transforming into her robot mode as she stood up, causing her to tower over the pink mare.
“Can’t eat cake!!” Pinkie exclaimed as she pulled Arcee’s head into her face, “this is serious! We need to determine your cake eating capabilities, STAT!”
“Wha?” Arcee asked, startled and now also a bit intimidated by the strange mare, before she was yanked unceremoniously off. After a few minutes, or seconds, she found herself in a chair, sitting in front of a massive slab of chocolate fudge cake.
“Well… give it a try!” Pinkie said, grinning.
“Um… Where are we?” Arcee asked first, looking around in confusion.
“Explanations later, now eat!”
Arcee shrugged before transforming back into a dragon and taking a bite out of the piece of chocolate cake in front of her, she chewed it for a bit then swallowed as she stared at the cake.
“And?”
“I… Honestly haven't tasted anything like it before…” Arce said before taking another bite, then another, and then another until she couldn't stop stuffing her face uncontrollably. “It tastes too good!” She shouted, her eyes became overly dilated for some reason.
“Aww, they’re so cute when they have their first slice,” Pinkie said as she wiped a tear from her eye.
“Must… Have… More!” Arcee practically roared, drooling energon uncontrollably as she gave Pinkie a crazed look.
“And then they go crazy and aren’t cute any more,” Pinkie said as she slowly pushed the rest of the cake towards her.
Arcee scarfed the rest of cake down uncontrollably until there was nothing left, after which she started sniffing the air in search for more.
“Need a hand?” Cruger asked from the doorway.
“Yes please, she’s worse than a parasprite, at least those’ll stop when I bring out the bagpipes.”
“No problem.” Cruger waved his hand, and several magical circles appeared on the walls of Sugarcube Corner, which then shot chains that bound Arcee securely.
At first Arcee merely stared at the chains, but then she began to thrash and gnaw at them as she tried to get lose and find more chocolaty treats.
“Normally this is where I bring out the sedatives, but I don’t think morphine works on robots.”
“More chocolate!” Arcee roared, before suddenly biting a chunk out of one of the chains holding her.
“I’m impressed,” Cruger said as he conjured more chains, including three which wrapped around her mouth, “those are pretty sturdy.”
Arcee continued to thrash, and attempted to open her mouth to no effect. Geting both annoyed and hungry she continued to thrash harder and harder, attempting to get loose while whimpering for more sweets.
As she struggled, Rainbow entered, “So, how did… woah, do I want to know?”
“Apparently she has a thing for chocolate,” Pinkie said.
Suddenly there was an explosion as the energon that Arcee had been drooling ignited from a spark produced by her claws scraping at the chains, resulting in her getting free...
“Note to self, Chain Glyph can be countered by energon detonation,” Cruger said as he pulled a red blaster from a portal, cocked it, then used it to spray down the flames with fire retardant.
At that moment, there was a loud crash as Arcee suddenly started raiding the counter of all its cakes uncontrollably, leaving a trail of energon drool in her wake.
“I got this,” Dash said. As a result, Arcee’s head immediately shot up from the now empty counter and looked towards Dash, her stomach gurgling.
“Skittles…” Arcee droned, almost sounding like a candy crazed zombie.
“Looks like it’s sugar that set her off,” Dash said as pulled out her blaster, “stand down or you’re going through the wall.” Arcee in response simply appeared in front of Rainbow Dash before eating her blaster.
“THAT’S IT!!!” Dash yelled before delivering the Hadoken she was charging in her other hand in Arcee’s face, sending her through the wall and into the streets. Moments later it was followed by the sound of citizens screaming in fear and a dragon roaring “More candy!’’ as what sounded like the window to BonBon’s candy emporium next door was shattered.
“Sure you got this?” Cruger asked.
“Just get me a new blaster.”
After Cruger passed her a new blaster, Dash charged after Arcee.
As soon as Rainbow Dash showed up, her new blaster in hand, Arcee had already started chowing down on all the candy she could find… Bonbon and Lyra cowering in a nearby corner.
“Hey, Sugar Wings, over here!”
Arcee turned her head to face Rainbow, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
“Don’t ya want some Skittles?”
Arcee looked like she was thinking for a minute, but when her stomach gurgled again her eyes suddenly shrank to slits, her full attention now on Rainbow.
“Then come get it,” Dash said before flying out of the store at full speed.
Arcee didn't waste a second, her wings springing out as she charged after Rainbow, before flying through a couple buildings that were in her way to catch up.
‘That’s right, follow me’ Dash thought to herself as she made a beeline for the Everfree.
At that moment Arcee roared as boosters folded out of her shoulders, she then activated the thrusters causing her to break the sound barrier and start swiftly catching up to Rainbow faster than she could reach the Everfree.
‘Not bad, that might’ve worked on the old me, but I’ve got way more than just speed these days.’ Just as Arcee reached her, Dash grabbed her by one of her arms and used her own momentum to slam the dragon into the ground.
Arcee roared in pain but ignored it as she pulled herself out of the crater she had made, the synthetic skin on her back now missing as well as the membranes from her wings as sparks arced across her back. Attempting and failing to get lift off again, Arcee resorted to running after the pegasus on the ground, breathing pink fire at the pegasus at the same time to try knocking her from the sky.
“Come on, is that all you’ve got?” Dash taunted as she dodged the blasts, turning so that they were head to the base.
Arcee suddenly paused... then holding her maw open, started gathering energy as a pink sphere began to grow in the back of her throat.
“I should probably have kept my mouth shut huh?”
As if in response, the energy gathered at the back of Arcee’s throat fired out of her mouth as a large pink laser with electricity arcing along its trail as it sped towards Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, should have kept my mouth shut,” Dash said as she dodged it.
The laser arked past its intended target and speed straight towards SPD base… before impacting and exploding, punching out a window or two and leaving a huge scorch mark. At which point Arcee had started running after Rainbow again, roaring in hunger.
“Guess I can’t just tire you out,” Dash said as she charged her blaster with her magic, “say cheese!”
Arcee, noticing the blaster charge up, started running faster, intent on disarming what looked to her right now like a flying bag of skittles.
“See ya when you wake up,” Dash said before firing a massive bolt of energy at Arcee, causing an explosion that both sent her flying back a couple meters as well as pass out, even more of her synthetic skin now missing as well as chunks of her cybernetics.
Arcee’s body twitched a few times from the shock before her eyes opened as they turned a dull solid grey, energon leaking from her wounds as she went still.
Arcee’s eyes suddenly flickered back to normal as she regained consciousness… “Ow, my head…” She groaned as she tried to look around but was unable to move her body for some reason. “Um, h-hello? W-what's going on!?” She demanded, fear surging through her functioning circuits.
“What’s going on is that Dash had to subdue you after you went on the mother of all sugar rushes,” said Cruger from outside of her line of sight, “by the way, don’t have candy again, ever.”
“Oh, I always wondered why mom never let me have candy again after my fourth birthday.” Arcee said, calming down now that she had been told what happened... and knowing that she wasn't being dissected. “So, why is it that I can't move for some reason?”
“Same spell that I gave Celestia,” Cruger said as she noticed the ethereal chains binding her, “Chain Glyph, easy to cast, but so versatile.”
“Oh, Um, could you let go of me please?” Arcee asked, finding the restraints very uncomfortable.
“No problem,” Cruger said, dispelling them, “to be honest I used it mainly since I was a bit out of practice with it, Dimens Pin kinda made it superfluous.”
“I have no idea what that is, but ok.” Arcee said, attempting to stretch after being freed from her restraints only to flinch in pain. “How exactly did you say I was ‘subdued’ again?” She asked, moving as slowly as she could to avoid irritating the area’s of her body that were stinging.
“In her defense, her first idea was to lead you around until you crashed on your own, but after you shot a laser cannon at the base she decided to take you down hard.”
“Laser cannon? I can do that?” Arcee asked, somewhat surprised before the rest of the sentence registered. “Um, define hard? Because I feel like I was hit by a transport truck and then left to a group of not very hungry piranhas...”
“Supersonic faceplant into the dirt, followed by pegasus-magic infused laser blast. On a related note, your synth-skin’s growing back nicely.”
“Wha…” Arcee slurred in shock before looking herself over, and then squeaking as she tried to cover her circuitry that was exposed with a blush.
“Anyway, why don’t we get back to the reason you wanted my aid?”
“C-can I have some privacy to cover myself first?” Arcee asked nervously, her face red as a tomato.
Cruger simply exited the room.
With no one looking, Arcee quickly transformed into her undamaged robot form, making herself much more comfortable now that her innards weren't being shown off to the world. She then walked out of the room to where Cruger was. “Ok, I’m ready. I just hope your staff doesn't overreact to a sentient robot twice as tall as them walking around.” She commented, stretching a little to get any leftover stiffness out of her servos.
“We’ve had a drunken Kitsune running amuck in these halls, trust me, you’re nowhere near the weirdest thing SPD’s seen, or the largest.”
“If you say so, though a sentient robot does stick out like a sore thumb…” Arcee said, looking around to make sure. While a few glances were shot her way, they were more taking note of her presence than gawking at her.
“Anyway,” Cruger said as he passed her a tablet, “mind drawing out what you’ve picked? Kinda hard to make something if I don’t know what it looks like.”
“Oh, ok… I’ll try?” Arcee said, accepting the tablet which fit into the palm of her hand before attempting to draw something on it. After a bit, she then handed the tablet back to Cruger, a drawing that could have belonged to a three year old covering the screen in the form of a combination of the Autobot and Decepticon symbols in the form of a badge.
“Let’s take a look,” Cruger said as he accepted it back. After a glance, he brought up an official image of the Decepticon and Autobot symbols. With a few button presses, he cut them up and put them together like Arcee tried to do. “Is this what you were going for?”
“Yes.” Arcee admitted, fidgeting with her fingers a little as she looked at her feet.
“Don’t worry, I’m not the best artist myself, why do you think I Shopped it? By the way, you want those dragon wings?”
“Which dragon wings?” Arcee asked, knowing that he wasn't referring to her own.
“The ones from my previous work,” Cruger said as he pulled out the pendants he made for her and Skywarp before.
“Hmm, no thanks. After all, these dragon forms might not be used by all the members we may get in the future.” Arcee said, a glint in her eye as the image of a future much brighter than her past flashed through her mind.
“I meant just for the token, but if you don’t want it, it’s your commision.”
“This token is going to be used by our entire faction, like I said.” Arcee said with a shrug.
“Very well,” Cruger said as they arrived at a small workshop, “stand back please.”
“Gladly.” Arcee said, making sure she was way out of range of the equipment inside the workshop.
Cruger set the tablet on a stand and cracked his knuckles before surrounding the station in a blue bubble. Inside, Cruger was a blur, metal melting, being poured into a handmade mold, and cooling in less than 30 seconds. Once he was done, he dispelled the bubble, “Time dilation fields are so handy don’t you think?”
Arcee merely gawked in amazement, unable to verbalize her opinion. “H-how!?” She eventually managed to say.
“My signature technique is Dimensional Magic, further detail would put you to sleep. So, like it?”
“Yes, thank you.” Arcee said. “Though, me and Skywarp had one thing we couldn't figure out… How do we change the emblems on our bodies?”
Cruger tapped his chin, “Not sure, you could try scanning it perhaps?”
“Hmm, I’ll try that when I get back… so what is there to do around here? I want to take a quick look around before I have to go home this time.” Arcee commented before a portal opened next to her and spat Skywarp out, still in his dragon mode. “What the… Skywarp!? Where have you been?” She asked in bewilderment.
“Oh my gosh!” Skywarp screamed, before transforming into his robot mode. “Run!”
suddenly, a very pissed off green dragon came out of the portal, it’s yellow eyes burning in rage.
“Let me guess,” said Cruger, “you forgot to check that the previous tenant had moved out before you moved in.”
“No! I dropped the token once Arcee used it and it somehow landed in the Everfree.” Skywarp explained, before running.
“So why is the dragon chasing you?” Arcee asked as she and Cruger jogged alongside Skywarp down the halls of SPD.
“Let’s just say, anything in a dragon's territory is apparently owned by said dragon!” Skywarp shouted back.
“You know you’re handling this the completely wrong way,” Cruger said.
“Oh yeah!?” Skywarp screamed.
“Running just makes them think you’re weak, you want him off your tail permanently you have to show you’re the alpha. Besides, you’re an alien robot dragon, I think you can take him.”
“Personally, I think I’m done running for today.” Arcee said, stopping and turning to face the angry dragon.
“That thing’s ten times bigger than me!” Skywarp glared, “I’m not strong!”
“Well, then I guess I just have to defeat it then?” Arcee asked, a dangerous glint in her eye as her hands morphed into blasters. “Huh, so that's how I do that…”
“Alice, you can’t! I tried blasting it and all it did was bounce off!” Skywarp tried to reason, his cowardice getting the better of him.
“Then I better not set mine to stun then!” Arcee giggled dangerously as her blasters charged up and she stepped in front of the mad dragon’s path.
It instantly breathed fire hotter than Skywarp’s flamethrower directed at Arcee, engulfing the female robot in the flames...
Arcee’s laughing instantly stopped as she coughed up some soot before looking down at her soot covered armor, she then looked back at the dragon as her eyes started to glow red. “You didn’t… you did NOT, just burn, MY PAINTJOB!” She snapped.
“My condolences buddy,” Cruger said as he erected a barrier, “but like they say back home, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’.”
“She’s… She’s… Ugh…” Skywarp rubbed his faceplate in annoyance. “Nevermind.”
The dragon began closing in on Arcee, but Skywarp began blasting it. The lasers didn’t bounce, but they barely did anything, as the energy used to power them was almost nothing.
Arcee, running off of pure fury, charged her blasters to their limit and then aimed right at the dragon’s face, killing intent oozing from her circuits. “I have two rules, just two rules, you want to know what they are mister?” Arcee hissed at the dragon. “One, you never touch my Thad without my permission. And two, you never mess with what I find cute!” She then screeched as she fired the her blasters, filling the area where the dragon was with pink light...
When the light cleared, there was only a pile of ash left in the hallway. Skywarp stared at the ash, petrified.
“Uh… Thanks for the save, Alice.” Skywarp said, shaking a bit in exhaustion.
“I think I’ll take a nap now…” Arcee said, plopping onto her metal butt in exhaustion due to low energon levels.
“Not bad, for a rookie,” Cruger said as he passed her a sugar free energy bar.
“I need energon…” Skywarp groaned.
“Try this,” Cruger said as he handed him an energy bar, “we’ve already determined that you can eat regular food, and I think the sugar thing was just her.”
Skywarp ate it, but didn’t feel any different. He then spat it out. “... Nope.”
Cruger shrugged, “Just trying to help, I’ve got degrees in Forensic Science and Theoretical Magic, not Cybertronian Biology.”
“Shut up, or I’m leaving with Arcee.” Skywarp snarled.
“Someone’s touchy,” Cruger mumbled to himself, “anyway, I’ve finished up your Token, we were waiting on you to do the finishing touches.”
“What finishing touches?” Skywarp asked.
Cruger held up the pendant, “Nothing much, just need to infuse it with some of your energy to prime it, add a message, and send it out into the void.”
“I’m… Low on energy.” Skywarp muttered. “If you haven’t noticed.”
“Doesn’t take a lot, about as much as you’d find in a AA. Besides, since you’re sharing, you two should charge it together.”
“Fine. But first, I want a few gems.” Skywarp demanded.
“Might as well see how well they charge you up,” Cruger said as he tossed him a few rubies from Rin’s fine.
Skywarp transformed and ate them, charging up a bit.
“You want some?” Cruger asked Arcee, holding up a sapphire between his fingers.
Arcee instantly dived for the sapphire, consuming it in her now fully repaired dragon form as she purred.
“Well then, I suppose you’re ready to charge it. Just touch it while imagining some of your energy going into it. And don’t forget to add your message if you have one, just speak it while you’re charging it.”
Arcee looked at Cruger as he explained how to finish the creation of their token before turning to Skywarp expectantly. “What would we put for the message?” She asked, nibbling on a couple more sapphires she had grabbed.
“We’re more than meets the eye?” Skywarp suggested.
Cruger chuckled, “You might need a little more than that, but maybe put it at the end? Just introduce yourselves, and say what you stand for, or something along those lines.”
“What we stand for? Like a faction motto?” Arcee asked, now nibbling on a ruby after having finished the sapphires.
“I’ll tell you mine, might give you some inspiration,” Cruger said before clearing his throat, “I am Anubis Cruger, the Shadow Ranger. If you require my aid, or merely my counsel, call on me. But be warned, you, as well as your foes, shall face my Judgement.”
“Huh, how about… We are the, whatever we call ourselves. call upon us if you are on the side of equality and either want to make a new ally or require assistance, but call upon us at your own peril for we are more than meets the eye?” Arcee suggested, her head feeling a bit numb afterwards.
“Good framework, although you might want to polish it a bit,” Cruger said.
“Why equality?” Skywarp asked.
“Because we’re neutral!” Arcee stated. “And would you honestly help anyone who looked down on others?”
“I look down on a lot of people.” Skywarp stated emotionlessly. “Anyways, equality doesn’t mean neutrality.”
“To be honest, equality might be the better option,” said Cruger, “less likely to run into crazy hermits who want to eat your face. Although Starlight wanted equality… never mind.”
“I already dislike you, so I’ll ignore any advice you have. The way you talk bugs me.” Skywarp glared. “Not to mention you’re extremely unhelpful in every way, say things that don’t matter like with whoever Starlight is, and act as though you’re better than us.”
“And you wonder why I call you Grumpy Gears,” Cruger mumbled to himself, “so, you want to figure it out here, or should I make you a do-it-yourself kit to bring home?”
“Oh, and another thing, you talk like a six year old.” Skywarp added, crossing his arms.
“I’m over a thousand years old, I reserve the right to hold onto any vestige of my youth I see fit. But if you want me to act my age, Arcee can vouch for my ear-tug and scold.”
“I find pinching her nose easier.” Skywarp stated, matter-of-factly. “Anyone can scold, I’m a year or two older than Arcee and I do it. That doesn’t make you act your age, or any age beyond ten. Now, neutrality sounds nice, equality sounds dumb since I doubt there’d be many equal rights idiots that we’d get along with. So how about we leave it vague who we’d help?”
“Sounds reasonable,” Cruger said, “What you think Cee?”
“Ok, I was never the best at coming up with things anyway.” Arcee shrugged, pointedly ignoring the part of the discussion about them scolding her.
“Aw, don’t say that. You came up with most of it!” Skywarp said, slinging an arm around Arcee in a one armed hug.
Arcee blushed as she tried to come up with a protest, and failed miserably as she fidgeted with her claws.
“Okay, so which one of us should relay the message?” Skywarp asked.
“W-well, I could if you want?” Arcee offered, currently trying to get her wings to fold up.
“Sure, you have a better voice than I do.” Skywarp declared, then flicked one of the wings playfully... causing her to flinch and blush harder before she managed to wiggle out of his grip.
“S-so! Let’s g-get to that!” Arcee stuttered, trying to get ahold of herself as she swiftly walked over to cruger and retrieved their token.
“Well, just think of a good thing to say, touch the Token, and say it,” Cruger said, “then we can go to the last step.”
“Which is?” Skywarp asked.
“Let’s get this step out of the first if you don’t mind,” Cruger said.
“Alright.” Arcee said, managing to finally fold her wings away despite her face still being as red as a tomato. She then walked over to Skywarp and held out the emblem so that he could hold onto half of it while she held the other half. He grabbed it, and two sparks of energy left their hands and went into the emblem. “So, what are we going to call our faction anyway?” She then asked.
“Uh… Maybe… Autocons?” Skywarp shrugged. “Thoughts, Arcee?”
“Cybertrons perhaps?” Cruger suggested, “just a thought.”
“How about Autotrons then? It sounds interesting enough.” Arcee then asked, combining the two suggestions.
Skywarp mentally groaned, but didn’t want Arcee sad. “Sure.”
“Ok then!” Arcee chirped, before reciting the message for their token. “We are the Autotrons. We are a neutral group but if you wish to make allies with us or simply wish for assistance of some kind call upon us. but if you have bad intentions call at your own peril, for we are more than meets the eye!” Once she finished, the token began to glow bright blue before turning into a sphere of energy and shooting up through the ceiling and into the sky. “Uh, was that supposed to happen?”
“It’s unique, I’ll give you that, but it looks like it just did the last step on its own,” said Cruger.
“Now I have a request. Can you replace our symbols with the shape of our token?” Skywarp asked in the nicest voice he could muster.
“We can try my original idea in 3, 2, 1.” Cruger held out his hand, as a beam of light shot down into it, before turning into their Token, “Try scanning it.”
Arcee, shrugging, transformed before she scanned the emblem token… moments later her autobot emblem dissolved as the new emblem took its place. “Huh, so that does work…” She muttered before noticing her still burnt armor. “I think I’ll need to get myself a new paint job before we leave…”
“We’ll see what tickles your fancy,” Cruger said as he scrolled through his tablet, “I know you can scan a paint job without changing your alt-mode, so that’s not a problem.”
“Hey, do you have any F-15 Eagles?” Skywarp asked.
“Sorry, but how about one of these?” Cruger turned the tablet to show him one of their new drop ships.
“... Nah. Maybe I’ll find one some day.” Skywarp said coldly. “Let’s go home, Arcee”
“Aw, fine… See you later Cruger!” Arcee said, pouting over having not been able to explore this equestria for a second time in a row.
“Feel free to call, and don’t forget your trash,” Cruger said as he held up the remains of the dragon.
Arcee rolled her eyes and took the bag of dragon ashes, wondering what she would do with them. “And don’t you forget to call should anything happen that you need the expertize of your local transformers for.” Arcee said, standing next to Skywarp and waiting to be sent back to their Equestria.
“Or if I just want to talk,” Cruger said as he opened a portal, “see ya later.”
“Or not.” Skywarp replied grumpily, before walking into the portal.Arcee waved as she and Skywarp went through the portal before it snapped shut, the only sign that they had ever been there the damage that Arcee left behind.
“Can’t this place go a week without getting blown up?” Flare Blast asked no one in particular as he started unbolting damaged wall panels.
“Who knows?” A pegasus mare with pitch black fur and yellow eyes replied as she voluntarily started helping Flare Blast with repairs, attempting to keep her blue mane out of her face in the process.
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No, the base can not go a week without damage. You are in Ponyville.
BASCO
*sigh* It's always good to see this get updated
Well... I guess Rin is on Pinkie's hit list too for taking off after the Juggernaut isn't she?
... well that happened. Hey cyberlord do you mind if we do a crossover as well. I'm finding myself having a hard time coming up with the next chapter of my kingdom hearts displaced story and future ideas.
7497733 Got it, thanks.
7515002 fair point
7505630 so some one us making a call for some rescue... a "light speed rescue" ah but really in terms of power with the current megazords you have from spd you out class the omega crawler megazord with the spd runners. But the runners were built for bot to bot so its all you
7505630
*Intense waiting for more plot intensifies*
7517400 Why is Princess Heart always capitalized!? Seriously!
If it had been like that through the whole story I wouldn't of cared, but it started like halfway through for no reason!